Bloomberg gives pep talk, ex-editor plans nonprofit

3/28/14 4:59 PM EDT

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stopped by the Bloomberg newsroom earlier this week to give a pep talk of sorts as the organization deals with blowback for their China coverage, or lack thereof, Jim Romenesko reports.

A source told Romenesko that Bloomberg encouraged overall “tough” reporting but didn’t single out China, though he reportedly said “no one is going to tell us what to publish." Another source told Romenesko that Bloomberg said the company has to respect the laws of individual countries, citing how the UK has tougher libel laws.

It's been a rough few months for Bloomberg since reporter Michael Forsythe left the company in January over its decision not to publish an investigative piece on corruption in China for fear of being kicked out of the country (he went to The New York Times, which reported on the unpublished article). Last week, Bloomberg LP Chairman Peter Grauer said the company should have reconsidered publishing critical articles about Chinese President Xi Jinping because they harmed Bloomberg's bottom line. Grauer said that the company "should have rethought" the articles.

And on Tuesday, Bloomberg News Asia editor Ben Richardson quit the organization in protest of the editors’ handling of the Forsythe piece. He is plotting to create an Asian nonprofit public-interest reporting venture, Richardson told our colleagues at Capital New York.

"Exactly how an Asian nonprofit it would look is exactly what myself and some like minded allies have been researching for the past few months," Richardson said. "I intend to spend the next few months trying to bring the idea to life."

"I'm proposing that we focus instead on funding, supporting, training the next generation of journalists on the ground in Asia," he added.